- The video is aimed at discrediting the claims of England"s 22 year old left back, Danny Rose, who said he had been the victim of sustained racial abuse from the Serbian supporters. It appears on Youtube, uploaded by the Serbian FA account and there is a link to the video posted on the offical website of the Serbian FA. The video shows several times when Rose is in posession but where there is no audible form of racial abuse. However it does not show the final fifteen minutes of the game, which culminated in the brawl at the final whistle. There were several videos available on youtube which clearly show the racial abuse aimed at Rose.
Tomislav Karadzic, the president of the Serbian FA, has offered an apology for the violent scenes at the end of the game but has steadfastly refused to admit there was an issue of racial abuse aimed at England"s black players.
The game ended with players and coaches from both teams clashing on the ptich while Rose was sent off after the final whistle for kicking a ball away. Rose has said he was frustrated at the racial abuse and as he left the pitch he was seen making a monkey gesture at the Serbian fans as a reaction to their chants. There have been calls from some quarters for the Serbian national team to be banned from international competition for a period as a punishment for the behaviour of their fans.
There is a history of controversy regarding Serbian players and fans with several incidents involving claims of racial abuse towards opposition players and the official statement from the Serbian FA offered little contrition in reagrd to the incidents, saying:
"(The) FA of Serbia absolutely refuses (sic) and denies that there were any occurrences of racism before and during the match at the stadium in Krusevac.
"Making connection between the seen incident - a fight between members of the two teams - and racism has absolutely no ground and we consider it to be a total malevolence.
"Unfortunately, after the fourth minute of the additional time and the victory goal scored by the guest team, unpleasant scenes were seen on the pitch.
"And while most of the English team players celebrated the score, their player number three, Danny Rose, behaved in inappropriate, unsportsmanlike and vulgar manner towards the supporters on the stands at the stadium in Krusevac, and for that he was shown a red card."
